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Forced Or Fun? FA’s In Overhead Bins

Open Jaw

16.10.15

Is being forced to lie inside an overhead bin just mischievous
fun or a bullying hazing tactic? That’s the issue KY is being forced to deal
with following complaints by some junior flight crew. The story coming out of
China claims attendants are being forced to lie inside the bins as part of a
flight crew “initiation.”

Kunming Airlines says
it had no knowledge of the alleged hazing new flight attendants underwent after
photos showing a female flight attendant lying inside a narrow overhead
compartment were shared on the social media site Weibo.

According to the
original statement from the airline, the incident took place on a plane of its
sister carrier Queensland Air, and happened after the crew wrapped up its
duties. The airline said the incident “did not affect the safe operation of
flights and passenger services.”

“The company attaches
high importance to the incident,” the statement read, adding it will “prevent
such things from happening again.”

Some flight
attendants, however, reportedly have a different story to tell. “Multiple
stewardesses have consistently filed complaints to the company. However, their
request for further investigations was ignored, and the ritual continued to
exist for nearly 5 years,” read a post on the English-language
Facebook pagefor state-run CCTV.

“Though many of them
were annoyed by the ritual, they still went through it in fear of being edged
out by other colleagues. In fact, a few stewardesses were labeled ‘asocial’ and
‘cocky’ after they refused the ritual,” CCTV reported, citing another article.

The original Weibo
post, from an account called Civil Aviation Tabloid, indicated the new flight
crew members were “forced into lockers by security staff upon completing 30 to
50 hours of service,”
BBCreported.

But another postmade light of the issue, saying facts
have been “distorted” and that the crew is “very harmonious” and the stunt was
just “spare time joking with each other.”

Flight attendants in
the U.S. and elsewhere have posed for photos while lying in overhead bins – but
no one forced them to climb in.

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